Page 30 of The Book Signing

The woman gives a frown, and shrugs. “Sorry, I thought you would have known. He’s a real playboy who,” she leans forward and lifts the side of her hand to her mouth, “methinks has some issues in the commitment department, so he sleeps around to make up for it.” She leans back and laughs, clearly thinking her joke was funny.

I give her a tight nod and then look at Jaxon for… I don’t know. Comfort? Whatever I want, though, I don’t get it. He’s eyeing the woman as if hewants her head to explode. Then his gaze moves to the foam, his brows furrowing, which makes him look deep in thought and unhappy about something.

Despite Jaxon’s odd, silent reaction, he’s still holding me around the waist, but I can also see his other hand clenched into a fist.

Not sure why, but I feel the need to calm him. I lift my hand up and glide it towards his shoulder and lean my chin against his collarbone. “Are you okay, hun?” I give him my best soothing voice.

Jaxon turns to me and looks me directly in the eyes, mesmerizing me with his blue orbs. For a second there, I see emotion flicker, but then a lopsided smile appears, and he whispers, “Yep, all good here.”

Liar, liar. Pants on fire.

My brain sings the truth, but whatever. I’ll eventually find out what made his mood deflate so quickly.

“Well, my ears are all open if you need to vent.” I graze his chest, wiping off droplets of water. It’s like my hands have wandered off into a world of their own, and they want to explore the planes on his chest. In a weird way, I want to comfort him without pushing it.

Jaxon stays silent as he looks at me and I see a flash of desire in his eyes, which is odd, considering there is nothingthatsexual about this scenario. I am curious to find out what he’s thinking about, especially since he focused the entire conversation on me and my book.

My hand is slips lower and lands on top of his cock, hard beneath his board shorts. The foam is covering the view that has gone from G rated to something certainly not child appropriate.

Suddenly, Jaxon shocks me by gently taking my chin, and brings his lips to mine.

This kiss is nothing like the time in my hotel room, which was fast and hungry. This one is slow and sensual.

However, the loud tone of a cell phone disrupts our embrace. The woman, who we forgot is still sitting here with us, clears her throat and says, “Sorry,” and with a blush on her cheeks, slips out to get her cell from a chair.

She checks her phone and then grabs her towel and turns to say bye, muttering something about drinks.

However, Jaxon seems to have forgotten about me and says, “Hey, before you go, just a quick question.” The woman stops and raises an eyebrow, as do I.

“Sure,” she responds, her eyes jumping between Jaxon and me.

He clears his throat and asks, “What makes you say that this guy has these issues? I just don’t see how the image has anything to do with a personal life.”

She seems to be stumped at his question and responds warily.

“Being committed to something is hard, and there is only one way out of it. Givin’ up. From the little I know of this guy, if he’s sleepin’ around and then writin’ about it, then he gives up on commitment.” She twists her lips, making a contemplative stare. “I just assumed that there must be a personal issue, or maybe it’s a crappy personality,” she chuckles, before shrugging and adding, “but ya’ll, it’s just what I think. I could be completely wrong, so don’t give it a second thought. Anyway, it was nice to meet ya’ll. Hope you enjoy the rest of your stay!” She turns around and quickly leaves us. Back to the silence we were in before she appeared. Although, before it was comfortable, and now it’s awkward.

Chapter Fifteen

JAXON

I’m fuming. I hope a vein isn’t protruding from my neck as I try to suppress my emotions. Then again, I must be doing a poor job at hiding my discomfort towards this discussion, because Abigail has already sussed it out.

The silence is not good either. It’s leaving us to our thoughts, and honestly, I don’t want to be thinking about my image. Regardless, this is who I am. I don’t regret it. The worst part, though, is that this random fan, who knows nothing about me, haspretty much pinned the nail on the donkey! It’s like she knew I had my personal issues with Natasha!

A grumble leaves me, and suddenly Abigail tugs at me, reminding me of how close we are. I was cupping her face, enjoying the taste of her lips and the smell of peaches, then completely withdrew from her to question someone.

For fuck sakes, I had her kissing me back and ruined the moment.

I look at her, and she gives me a lopsided smile.

“What was that all about, Jaxon? You looked like you were about to implode.”

A chuckle leaves me, despite trying to suppress my annoyance, so I playfully wrap my hands around her waist and tug her closer. She shrieks, startled at the move, but I silence her as my lips crash over hers, needing the warmth and proximity of her body. She kisses me back with fervor, much to my surprise, but then pulls away and says, “Jaxon, why did you get all aggravated earlier? Who cares about the guy, or his past? Don’t feel bad.”

I know that if I don’t give her some answers, these kisses will get us nowhere. I grab her chin and swipe my thumb over her bottom lip, adoring the soft pout she wears. “Nothing, I was curious. Don’t worry.”

I don’t want her to know the truth, besides; we are here for a short time together, so if I play my cards right, it won’t come to that. I want more time to enjoy her, so if I need to divert the topic, so be it.

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